


Grounded

by MistralAmara



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-24
Updated: 2011-06-24
Packaged: 2017-10-20 16:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/214893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistralAmara/pseuds/MistralAmara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Jenna Stannis makes her first trip planetside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grounded

Jenna set foot on a planet for the first time when she was eight. Her father had brought her along to carry his contraband. The overworked customs officials questioned her father closely, but never spared a glance for the gaudy 'toy' jewelry that hung all over Jenna like festival lights. She fidgeted with a strand of sapphires while she waited for her father to be cleared. Her body felt heavy and uncomfortable; the ground didn't thrum and pulse like the decks of the _Nightwind_ , and the air smelled funny, like the filters hadn't been changed in a long time. The planet felt dead, and in her child's heart, she was afraid if that if she stayed groundside too long, she'd die too.

When they were finally through customs, Cal Stannis hailed a ground cab. It sped along its predetermined course in two dimensions--forward, back, right, left, zooming around corners and narrowly avoiding other ground cabs on their own pre-programmed errands. It was so much more awkward than simply pointing your ship where you wanted to go. Jenna pressed her face to the window and looked up at the sky. She couldn't see the _Nightwind_ from down here, but there were birds--bright, colorful, _free_. She'd only seen birds in her bookreader before now. How graceful they were! She wondered what it would be like to be a bird, to fly without a ship. If she had to live on a planet, she'd want to be a bird.

She was so busy watching the birds that she barely noticed when the ground cab stopped. Her father retrieved his credit voucher from the machine's slot and they got out in front of a row of shops. Their windows were grimy and the paint on their signs was peeling. Her father took her hand and led her into a shop marked 'Gaffer's Curios'. A bell tinkled as they entered.

There was a grey-looking man at the counter in back; Jenna guessed his name was Gaffer. Gaffer smiled and asked her her name, but he didn't really seem interested in the answer. Then her father took all the jewels she wore and laid them on the counter, and he and Gaffer started arguing about the price. Jenna thought they must have forgotten that she was there at all.

Soon she was bored by all the talking, so she started to look around the shop. At first she stayed within sight of her father, but he and Gaffer didn't pay any attention to her wanderings, so she explored the whole shop. There weren't any toys, no computers, not even a bookreader. Just funny old things--little carvings set on checkered boards, papers sandwiched between stiff colored covers, chairs so old they were made out of wood. She couldn't imagine what anyone would do with any of it.

Then, near the front of the shop she hear some noises. They were high-pitched, like the sounds of ship's rats, but they didn't sound like rats. They were more chirpy, like a computer. Maybe there was something here she could play with, after all.

She followed the sounds all the way to the very front of the shop, right by the window. There, behind a box of old scarves, she found not a computer, but a cage! A cage full of tiny birds, their wings as bright as the stones that her father and Gaffer were arguing about. The birds chirruped more loudly when they saw her, and jumped around in the cage, beating their tiny wings. They hopped up and down, climbed up the sides of the cage, and ran round and round. But there was no room in the cage for them to fly.

Jenna's heart beat fast, almost as fast as the birds' wings. Just seeing them in their cage, she felt trapped, anchored to the earth with no hope of ever breaking free. A feeling of panic seized her, and she found herself gasping for air. Without thinking, she grabbed the heavy cage and dragged it off the shelf. It was too heavy for her to lift, so she scooted it along the floor until she got to the door.

The door chimed as it opened. She heaved the cage over the threshold, undid the latch, and opened the cage door wide. The angry voices behind her got angrier, but she was too absorbed by her task to pay them any attention. She watched as the more adventurous birds hopped to the opening and flew away, then she shooed the stragglers out after them. The last ruby and emerald wings were streaking away in the distance when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.

"Jenna! What are you doing?" She knew that voice. Her father was upset.

So was Gaffer. "Stannis, those birds were for a customer. They'll have to be replaced."

Cal Stannis's shoulders slumped. "I'll pay for them."

"You bet you will. They don't come cheap."

The ride back to the spaceport was mostly quiet, except that her father made a hushed call to the supply depot. When they got to the docking bay, Jenna saw that the pile of crates was smaller than usual. They were all food and repair parts, as far as Jenna could tell. None of the crates was marked 'books' or 'toys', or even 'clothes'. She guessed she was in a lot of trouble. But when she reminded her father that he'd forgotten her mother's flowers--he _always_ brought her mother flowers--he just said, 'Not now, Jenna,' in that same upset tone, and she knew something was really the matter. Her mother hadn't done anything wrong.

Later, when her parents explained to her what she'd done, she understood why there were no flowers. She even understood why she wasn't allowed to watch any vis-plays or use her bookreader for a month, except to do her schoolwork. She was sorry she'd caused so much trouble, but it was too late to take it back now.

Still, it wasn't all bad. She'd never forget the sight of those beautiful birds soaring off into the sky.

And nobody made her go planetside again until she was thirteen.

-End-


End file.
